SEATTLE, WA - In 1987, two screenwriters finished a Cold War thriller about the Soviet Union challenging the Denver Broncos to a football game. Hollywood loved it. They landed an agent. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and the script became irrelevant overnight.38 years later, the Cold War is back. So is the story.
"Offsides," now a novel by Seattle author Paul Gorman, imagines a world where peace was decided on a football field instead of a battlefield - and asks what happens when powerful forces profit from keeping us enemies.
Set during glasnost in 1987, the thriller follows a conspiracy to sabotage a July 4th "Peace Game" between the Soviet Union and the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. Disgraced quarterback Mike Larsen, now a sportswriter, uncovers the plot and races to stop it before the fragile hope of peace dies on the field.
"The conspiracy in the book - hardliners on both sides who profit from division - feels more relevant now than it did in 1987," Gorman said. "We're living through a new Cold War. The same forces that wanted that fictional game to fail are still operating today."
The novel has received 5-star "Must Read" recognition from Reedsy Discovery and a 5-star review from Readers' Favorite.
Gorman, 76, is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and author of two memoirs, including "Into Trouble," about his 1969 imprisonment in Franco's Spain as a draft dodger. His films have screened internationally.
"Offsides" is available now on Amazon.
CONTACT:
Paul Gorman
raincitycinema@gmail.com